The European Commission will launch a 12-week consultation early next week on revising its long-term low-carbon development strategy – a plan that might take as long as two years to finalise, the EU’s climate chief said Tuesday.

Ontario lawmakers have been recalled for a summer session to introduce “urgent legislation” to repeal the law that underpins the province’s now-cancelled cap-and-trade scheme, the new Progressive Conservative government announced Tuesday.

An omnibus clean energy bill introduced by a Washington DC councilmember on Tuesday calls for the US capital to achieve a 100% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) by 2032, but fails to include a carbon tax pushed for by campaigners this year.

California grasslands offer a better chance of sequestering carbon than forests under higher temperatures and more intense drought, which researchers say is critical for offset project developers and regulators to consider in meeting the state’s emission targets.

The third RGGI auction of the year will take place on Sep. 5, the scheme’s operators announced Tuesday, with the sale following June’s sold-out auction that surprised many by clearing several cents above market.

Fewer people believe China’s national carbon market will be fully operational this decade, a new survey has revealed, as policy risks and expectations of lower allowance prices fuel pessimism and hold back industry from making low-carbon investment.

The UNFCCC’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has enjoyed great success in deploying more than $300 billion of investment into clean technology in developing countries around the world. But recent decisions by the UNFCCC risk alienating may of the companies whose activities support this mechanism and discriminate against smaller enterprises.

Spend two days with top experts, players, and decision-makers from the global carbon markets as they address today’s most attractive opportunities and pressing challenges. And join us for the EU ETS pre-conference training day organised by carbon market experts Redshaw Advisors, where you will learn how to effectively manage your carbon risk ahead of the looming overhaul of the bloc’s emissions trading scheme.

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BITE-SIZED UPDATES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Supreme Court scoop – President Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to be a US Supreme Court Justice on Monday night, setting up a possible showdown for his confirmation in the Senate and raising environmentalists’ concerns about how the candidate’s past support for regulatory rollbacks will influence environmental policy in the nation’s highest court for decades to come. Kavanaugh, a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia since 2006, said during oral arguments on the Clean Power Plan in 2016 that the Clean Air Act was a “thin statute” to uphold the rule, comparing the regulation to former President George W. Bush’s move after 9/11 to detain a suspected enemy combatant without due process. “War is not a blank check,” Kavanaugh said during the arguments. “Global warming is not a blank check, either, for the president.” More recently, Kavanaugh wrote a ruling last year striking down a rule regulating high global warming potential HFCs, though he would be recused from any challenge brought before the Supreme Court on that case if confirmed as a justice. He also challenged the Obama administration’s first attempt to regulate GHG emissions in 2012, and criticised the administration in a 2014 case for not considering the costs of a rule designed to limit the emissions of mercury and other pollutants from coal plants. With Republicans only holding a slim majority in the Senate, Kavanaugh likely faces a tough confirmation fight going forward. (Inside Climate News, Reuters, Politico)

EV estimates – Steadily-rising demand for electric vehicles (EVs) in the US could lead to a 38% increase in electricity demand, a gain of 80 TWh. The research comes from the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and found that electricity demand would rise across a reference case, medium- and high-adoption electrification scenario through 2050. While EVs have gotten off to a relatively slow start in the US, the Edison Electric Institute and Institute for Electric Innovation estimates that there could be 7 million EVs on the road by 2025, up from only 567,000 at the end of 2016. (Utility Dive)

A new king is crowned – For the first time ever, renewable energy sources in Germany have generated more power than all coal plants taken together, making wind, solar, and other green energy sources the largest power source in the country, preliminary figures released by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries (BDEW) show. Renewable power sources together generated nearly 118 billion kWh of electricity, or 36.3% of the total, between January and the end of June, while the output of lignite and hard coal plants dropped to 114 billion kWh. Including nuclear, low-carbon power sources accounted for 47.6% of gross power production, BDWE said. (Clean Energy Wire)

Reuse and recycle – Old wind turbines in Germany must be refurbished and modernised to ensure that the country meets its 2030 goal of increasing the share of renewables to 65% of power consumption, the German Wind Energy Association (BWE) said in a press release. The lobby group warns that 16 GW of wind power capacity in Germany could be lost between 2021 and 2025 as the turbines will exceed their guaranteed 20-year operational life, and may not be operated at a profit any longer. “Based on current revenues, running costs allow us to continue operation only until the first major damage occurs,” BWE head Hermann Albers said. (Clean Energy Wire)

Those pesky kids – The Trump administration is again trying a last-ditch effort to short-circuit the landmark kids climate lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, that has been ordered to trial this October. Attorneys for the Department of Justice filed a second writ of mandamus request last week, a long-shot motion to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and say they will appeal to the Supreme Court if the request is not granted. The government also filed an emergency motion to halt discovery pending the outcome of this request, demanded a ruling by next Monday or they will have “little choice but to seek further relief from the Supreme Court.” The motions are the latest in a long string of attempts by the federal government to stop the suit. (Climate Liability News)

Additionality alignment – The Alberta Climate Change Office (ACCO) has published Version 2.0 of its Standard for Greenhouse Gas Emission Offset Project Developers. The standard was updated to enable the implementation of the published Technical Guidance for the Assessment of Additionality, along with other clarification-related revisions. Minor updates were also made to the Project Report Form and the Project Plan Form, which were required for use starting July 9.

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